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Rent
Rent is the title song of the musical RENT. Summary The electrical power goes out. Mark and Roger refuse to pay their rent Lyrics COMPANY bursts into a flurry of movement. everyone except MARK and ROGER freezes in a group upstage. MARK: How do you document real life When real life is getting more Like fiction each day Headlines -- bread-lines Blow my mind And now this deadline "Eviction -- or pay" Rent! ROGER: How do you write a song When the chords sound wrong Though they once sounded right and rare When the notes are sour Where is the power You once had to ignite the air MARK: And we're hungry and frozen ROGER: Some life that we've chosen MARK/ROGER: How we gonna pay How we gonna pay How we gonna pay Last year's rent MARK: spoken We light candles ROGER: How do you start a fire When there's nothing to burn And it feels like something's stuck in your flue MARK: How can you generate heat When you can't feel your feet MARK/ROGER: And they're turning blue! MARK: You light up a mean blaze grabs one of his own posters. ROGER: With posters -- grabs old manuscripts. MARK: And screenplays ROGER AND MARK: How we gonna pay How we gonna pay How we gonna pay Last year's rent go down on the loft and go up on JOANNE JEFFERSON, at the pay phone. JOANNE: phone Don't screen, Maureen It's me -- Joanne Your substitute production manager Hey hey hey! (Did you eat?) Don't change the subject Maureen But darling -- you haven't eaten all day You won't throw up You won't throw up The digital delay --- Didn't blow up (exactly) There may have been one teeny tiny spark You're not calling Mark COLLINS: How do you stay on your feet When on every street It's 'trick or treat' (And tonight it's 'trick') 'Welcome back to town' Oh, I should lie down Everything's brown And uh -- oh I feel sick MARK: the window Where is he? COLLINS: Getting dizzy collapses. MARK AND ROGER: How we gonna pay How we gonna pay How we gonna pay Last year's rent and ROGER stoke the fire. Crosscut to BENNY's Range Rover. BENNY: cellular phone Alison baby -- you sound sad I don't believe those two after everything I've done Ever since our wedding I'm dirt -- They'll see I can help them all out in the long run locales: JOANNE at the pay phone, and ROGER in their loft, and COLLINS on the ground. following is sung simultaneously. BENNY: Forces are gathering Forces are gathering Can't turn away Forces are gathering COLLINS: Ughhhhh-- Ughhhhh-- Ughhhhh-- I can't think Ughhhhh-- Ughhhhh-- Ughhhhh-- I need a drink MARK: (reading from a script page) "The music ignites the night with passionate fire" JOANNE: Maureen -- I'm not a theatre person ROGER: "The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit" JOANNE: Could never be a theatre person MARK: Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground JOANNE: (realizing she's been cut off) Hello? MARK AND ROGER: And feel the heat of the future's glow JOANNE: Hello? phone rings in the loft. MARK picks it up. '' '''MARK:' phone Hello? Maureen? --Your equipment won't work? Okay, all right, I'll go! MARK AND HALF OF COMPANY: How do you leave the past behind When it keeps finding ways to get to your heart It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out Till you're torn apart Rent! ROGER AND OTHER HALF OF COMPANY: How can you connect in an age Where strangers, landlords, lovers Your own blood cells betray ALL: What binds the fabric together When the raging, shifting winds of change Keep ripping away BENNY: Draw a line in the sand And then make a stand ROGER: Use your camera to spar MARK: Use your guitar ALL: When they act tough - you call their bluff MARK AND ROGER: We're not gonna pay MARK AND ROGER WITH HALF OF COMPANY: We're not gonna pay MARK AND ROGER WITH OTHER HALF OF COMPANY: We're not gonna pay ALL: Last year's rent This year's rent Next year's rent Rent rent rent rent rent We're not gonna pay rent ROGER AND MARK: 'Cause everything is rent Category:Songs Category:Act I Songs